Improving cancer treatment, relieving patient anxiety, and reducing health care costs in the United States, are clear potential benefits of the cancer goggles.

Funding for Dr. Achilefu’s work has come from a variety of public and private sources. However, he says that funding from the National Institutes of Health and other federal agencies has been absolutely essential to moving his cancer goggles from concept to reality. Moreover, he says that it’s only through continued federal funding of research that future innovations will evolve.

(PHOTOS COURTESY OF ROBERT BOSTON, WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MEDICINE IN ST. LOUIS)